Investigative Journalism and Learning Hub - Waratah Strata Management premeditated plan to prevent SP52948 owner from access to strata documents on 30 April 2019

From: Robert Crosbie Waratah Strata Management
Date: 9 May 2019

We write with regard to your various recent correspondence and respond as follows:

· We are happy to book a strata inspection for you on either 24 or 31 May at 9.30am. Please confirm which date you wish to book.

· As noted in the committee meeting minutes of 21/3/19 the USB provided by BCS at change of strata managers was provided to Eastwood Police to allow them to investigate the complaint you lodged with them. We have a copy of all correspondence with Detective Sergeant in relation to that lost USB. We also have a copy of all correspondence to BCS requesting they provide another copy. Thank you for advising that you have a copy of that USB. As a concerned owner at the property we are sure you will be willing to provide a copy of that USB for the Owners Corporations records. If yes, we ask you to bring a copy with you on 24 or 31 May. We are happy to reimburse you the cost of the USB if you wish.

· As advised in the letter that was sent to all owners in March, Waratah Strata Management’s server was involved in a ransomware attack. This resulted in our server being encrypted. The hacker was also able to gain access to our cloud based backup service which was also encrypted. As a result a large portion of the owners corporations archive records are no longer available. All financial records are intact, along with all agendas & minutes, insurance records, strata plan files, etc. Much of our email correspondence is still available via Microsoft Exchange, but emails and other electronic correspondence that had previously been saved to our electronic archives are no longer available. We advise that all available records will be provided to you during your inspection, but make you aware some records are no longer available. · The remainder of your recent correspondence has been dealt with at the committee meeting held on 2/5/19. (Copy attached).

Regards,

Robert Crosbie Waratah Strata Management P.O. Box 125,

Hi,

In compliance with SSMA 2015 Section 182, I submit notice to the owners corporation with requests for inspection of records of owners corporation on one of the dates listed below:

Friday, 24 May 2019 at 09:30 hours
Friday, 31 May at 09:30 hours

Document viewing is requested through electronic access, as per SSMA 2015 Section 183(3).

As per SSMA 183(2), owners corporation must immediately give a written notice fixing a specified time within three days after receiving the application and no latter than 10 days after receiving the application.

Strata agency must keep/provide ALL documents for the last seven years, as per SSMA 2015 Section 180 (inclusive of all correspondence between the executive committee, the strata manager and any service provider or lawyers). If something is missing the Act allows an owner to request that it be produced within 10 days.

This is what I received from Waratah Strata Management in the previous document search on 16 May 2017:

We will be making available all of the paper and electronic records provided to us by BCS. We have no knowledge of the completeness or accuracy of the records provided by BCS. We will also provide all of the paper and electronic records held by Waratah Strata Management. We will not be preparing any of the information you have requested below. This is up to you to extract that information from the strata records.

Regards,